Weak States in International Relations Theory

Weak States in International Relations Theory PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137543882
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book seeks to explain why weak states exist within the international system. Using the cases of Armenia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Lebanon, and Cambodia, the author argues that, if a state is weak and vulnerable, then it can practice an unexpected degree of relative autonomy unfettered by great powers.

Weak States in International Relations Theory

Weak States in International Relations Theory PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137543882
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book seeks to explain why weak states exist within the international system. Using the cases of Armenia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Lebanon, and Cambodia, the author argues that, if a state is weak and vulnerable, then it can practice an unexpected degree of relative autonomy unfettered by great powers.

Small States in International Relations

Small States in International Relations PDF Author: Christine Ingebritsen
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295802103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
Smaller nations have a special place in the international system, with a striking capacity to defy the expectations of most observers and many prominent theories of international relations. This volume of classic essays highlights the ability of small states to counter power with superior commitment, to rely on tightly knit domestic institutions with a shared "ideology of social partnership," and to set agendas as "norm entrepreneurs." The volume is organized around themes such as how and why small states defy expectations of realist approaches to the study of power; the agenda-setting capacity of smaller powers in international society and in regional governance structures such as the European Union; and how small states and representatives from these societies play the role of norm entrepreneurs in world politics -- from the promotion of sustainable solutions to innovative humanitarian programs and policies..

Prioritization Theory and Defensive Foreign Policy

Prioritization Theory and Defensive Foreign Policy PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319480189
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book studies systemic vulnerabilities and their impact on states and individual survival. The author theorizes that the structure of the international system is a product of the distribution of capabilities and vulnerabilities across states. States function or behave in terms of these systemic threats. The author examines a number of specific case-studies focusing on military, economic, environmental, political and cyber vulnerabilities, and how different states are impacted by them. Arguing that current attempts to securitize these vulnerabilities through defensive foreign policies are largely failing, the books makes the case for prioritizing economic development and human security.

Strong Societies and Weak States

Strong Societies and Weak States PDF Author: Joel S. Migdal
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691010731
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why do many Asian, African, and Latin American states have such difficulty in directing the behavior of their populations--in spite of the resources at their disposal? And why do a small number of other states succeed in such control? What effect do failing laws and social policies have on the state itself? In answering these questions, Joel Migdal takes a new look at the role of the state in the third world. Strong Societies and Weak States offers a fresh approach to the study of state-society relations and to the possibilities for economic and political reforms in the third world. In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, state institutions have established a permanent presence among the populations of even the most remote villages. A close look at the performance of these agencies, however, reveals that often they operate on principles radically different from those conceived by their founders and creators in the capital city. Migdal proposes an answer to this paradox: a model of state-society relations that highlights the state's struggle with other social organizations and a theory that explains the differing abilities of states to predominate in those struggles.

Institution Building in Weak States

Institution Building in Weak States PDF Author: Andrew Radin
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1626167958
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book Here

Book Description
The effort to improve state institutions in post-conflict societies is a complicated business. Even when foreign intervention is carried out with the best of intentions and the greatest resources, it often fails. What can account for this failure? In Institution Building in Weak States, Andrew Radin argues that the international community’s approach to building state institutions needs its own reform. This innovative book proposes a new strategy, rooted in a rigorous analysis of recent missions. In contrast to the common strategy of foreign interveners—imposing models drawn from Western countries—Radin shows how pursuing incremental change that accommodates local political interests is more likely to produce effective, accountable, and law-abiding institutions. Drawing on extensive field research and original interviews, Radin examines efforts to reform the central government, military, and police in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq, and Timor-Leste. Based on his own experience in defense reform in Ukraine after 2014, Radin also draws parallels with efforts to improve state institutions outside of post-conflict societies. Institution Building in Weak States introduces a domestic opposition theory that better explains why institution building fails and what is required to make it work. With actionable recommendations for smarter policy, the book offers an important corrective for scholars and practitioners of post-conflict missions, international development, peacebuilding, and security cooperation.

The Idea of Failed States

The Idea of Failed States PDF Author: H. Christian Breede
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351768352
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why are some states able to deliver public services to their citizens while others cannot? Why are some states beset by internal conflict that leaves many impoverished? Much of what has become known as the failed states literature attempts to engage with these questions, but does so in way that betrays a particular bias, engaging in advocacy for intervention rather than analysis. The Idea of Failed States directly challenges existing thinking about conventional state strength as it finds that institutional approaches to state strength obscure as much as they reveal. The question of why some states are strong and others weak has traditionally been addressed using measures of economic growth, resources, and quality of life. This book compares the dimensions of state strength characterised by community, society, and nation and uses social capital concepts to further illuminate them. Applying this approach across forty-two countries shows ‘weak’ states exhibiting a consistent and unique patterns of relationships between community, society, and nation as well as equally consistent and unique relationships in strong states. A blend of theory and empirics, The Idea of Failed States present a new way to think about the state – one that applies to both strong and weak alike. This work should be of interest to students and scholars researching social capital, public policy, international development and security studies.

Grand Strategies of Weak States and Great Powers

Grand Strategies of Weak States and Great Powers PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319704044
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
Grand strategies can be thought of as overall survival strategies of all states. Great powers seek survival against other great powers seeking to undermine their power and position, determining prestige-seeking behavior as psychotic and destructive. Weak states suffer from systemic vulnerabilities and trade whatever political power they have to a great power for economic assistance. If enough weak states support a particular great power, then that great power will become more powerful relative to competitors. This forms an international system fashioned by these transactions.

South Asia's Weak States

South Asia's Weak States PDF Author: T. V. Paul
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804778531
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
South Asia, which consists of eight states of different sizes and capabilities, is characterized by high levels of insecurity at the inter-state, intra-state, and human level: insecurity that is manifest in both traditional and non-traditional security problems—especially transnational terrorism fuelled by militant religious ideologies. To explain what has caused and contributed to the perpetual insecurity and human suffering in the region, this book engages scholars of international relations, comparative politics, historical sociology, and economic development, among others, to reveal and analyze the key underlying and proximate drivers. It argues that the problems are driven largely by two critical variables: the presence of weak states and weak cooperative interstate norms. Based on this analysis and the conclusions drawn, the book recommends specific policies for making the region secure and for developing the long lasting inter- and intra-state cooperative mechanisms necessary for the perpetuation of that security.

Coercion, Survival, and War

Coercion, Survival, and War PDF Author: Phil Haun
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080479507X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
In asymmetric interstate conflicts, great powers have the capability to coerce weak states by threatening their survival—but not vice versa. It is therefore the great power that decides whether to escalate a conflict into a crisis by adopting a coercive strategy. In practice, however, the coercive strategies of the U.S. have frequently failed. In Coercion, Survival and War Phil Haun chronicles 30 asymmetric interstate crises involving the US from 1918 to 2003. The U.S. chose coercive strategies in 23 of these cases, but coercion failed half of the time: most often because the more powerful U.S. made demands that threatened the very survival of the weak state, causing it to resist as long as it had the means to do so. It is an unfortunate paradox Haun notes that, where the U.S. may prefer brute force to coercion, these power asymmetries may well lead it to first attempt coercive strategies that are expected to fail in order to justify the war it desires. He concludes that, when coercion is preferred to brute force there are clear limits as to what can be demanded. In such cases, he suggests, U.S. policymakers can improve the chances of success by matching appropriate threats to demands, by including other great powers in the coercive process, and by reducing a weak state leader's reputational costs by giving him or her face-saving options.

Weak States in the International System

Weak States in the International System PDF Author: Michael I. Handel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780714640730
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work defines weak states and their strengths and weaknesses. It examines why they are weak and their position in different international systems as well as their economic positions.